With a growing population, the number of developmentally disabled children grows. Additionally, the rates at which children have been diagnosed as developmentally disabled, and particularly diagnosed with autism, have steadily increased. While there is a continuum of disabilities that fall under the general heading of developmentally disabled, many individuals that are developmentally disabled experience difficulty in developing normal speech and language abilities and may also suffer from sensory processing dysfunction (SPD). SPD encompasses those situations where a person has one or more senses that are hyposensitive or hypersensitive.
These dysfunctions and their manifestations make it difficult for such individuals to adapt to dynamic settings and in particular they may have difficulty transitioning between activities. This difficulty is compounded by the aforementioned language barriers that may exist.
Conventional approaches have not been able to provide a convenient tool that allows caregivers to communicate effectively with such individuals and prepare such individuals for known upcoming changes, especially in contexts such as ordinary life in the community, which is markedly more dynamic and rich with sensory stimuli as compared to relatively sterile and controlled therapeutic settings.